Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins testifies at a House Veterans Affairs hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The top leader at the Department of Veterans Affairs sought to convince Democrats on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Wednesday that a major plan to reorganize the agency will only eliminate “redundant” office jobs and redirect resources to veterans medical care.
VA Secretary Doug Collins, in a tense exchange with Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., denied there are plans for a “reduction in force, diminished care or anything else I’ve heard or been accused of in the last few minutes.”
“Let’s put the resources where they need to be — and not send them to some amorphous” administrative office, Collins said during a 2½-hour hearing that focused on VA’s plans for restructuring its network of hospitals and clinics with an aim to improve efficiency.
Collins was the only witness at the 2½-hour hearing, where he received a warm welcome from Republican lawmakers but faced accusations from Democrats about a lack of transparency over the reorganization.
A spending proposal for the reorganization will be submitted to Congress for fiscal 2027, as part of the VA’s annual budget proposal, Collins said.
The VA projects it will spend $2 trillion over the next decade providing direct care to the nation’s veterans at its 1,300 hospitals and clinics. It will pay another $1 trillion for private non-VA care for veterans in their communities.
Ranking member Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., left, and chairman Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., talk to each other during a House Veterans Affairs hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
But Takano, the committee’s ranking Democrat, accused Collins of not having a “fully baked plan” for the reorganization.
Takano said in opening remarks that the VA is poised to restructure the nation’s largest health care system “with little more than a half-page notification and a 10-page slide deck” for Congress.
The purpose of the hearing was to give Collins a forum to outline VA’s major initiative. But the accusation seemed to set the tone for exchanges that followed with other Democrats on the committee.
“Here’s the problem — we don’t know what the changes are. What you have provided here is not much,” Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., said.
But Collins countered that VA leaders notified the committee in December about initiating discussions on its reorganization project. A determination for the restructuring was made in mid-2025.
The VA’s chief financial officer met with the committee in January to detail the proposal for expanding community health care as a nationwide network of providers — including doctors, dentists and pharmacists — managed by third-party administrators.
At that hearing, Takano also accused VA leadership of failing to give proper notice to Congress.
“You are going to hear all kinds of scary stories saying this is bad for VA, but I want to emphasize again: We are simply acting on more than a decade of advice from people and organizations who study this for a living and have been calling for change,” Collins said. “Those calls went unheeded for years, but those days are over.”
The oversight hearing marked the first time that Collins formally testified about the project with the committee, and Collins pledged to keep members informed as it advances.
Outdated VA management structure, created in the 1990s, does not align with modern needs of patients and is affecting the timely delivery of quality care, Collins said.
The VA has opened 25 outpatient clinics since January 2025, part of the broader effort to make services more convenient and accessible to veterans, he said.
“Let’s put the resources where they need to be,” Collins said.
Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., the committee chairman, lauded Collins’ efforts to “remove bureaucratic red tape, organize processes and push VA forward.”
Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., makes remarks at a House Veterans Affairs hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., a nurse practitioner, also thanked Collins for undertaking the project.
Kiggans said she spent three months early in her career working at the Hampton VA Medical Center in Virginia, where she witnessed a bloated bureaucracy and chronic shortages of medical staff.
“I saw buildings filled with people, but I did not know what they were doing. But the physicians and nurses were overwhelmed — those were people we needed more of,” Kiggans said.
“I applaud your efforts,” Kiggans said, addressing Collins.
But McGarvey accused Collins of proposing “the biggest shakeup of the VA in 30 years” without detailing how it will be executed.
“I am not opposed to change, but I do want to make sure it improves the care veterans receive,” McGarvey said.
Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., said that she and other Democrats are still upset about how VA staff reductions were carried out in 2025.
She referred to layoffs of probationary employees, a hiring freeze and voluntary resignations at the VA, as President Donald Trump ordered a downsizing of the federal government.
“This wasn’t happening as work was slowing down, but as the largest expansion of VA health care [enrollment] in decades was underway,” Budzinski said.
Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., makes remarks at a House Veterans Affairs hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
